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Dems protest Afghanistan war, propose defunding amendments

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), who started the protest effort on the floor, argued that the U.S. is paying $10 billion a month for Afghanistan operations. Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Walter Jones (R-NC) argued that more U.S. soldiers will die in Afghanistan the longer the U.S. stays there

Others joining the effort were Reps. Mike Honda (D-Calif.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), and Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). Several of these members said they would seek to defund the Afghanistan operation through several amendments to the DOD bill, H.R. 2219.

But their efforts seemed likely to fail. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) brought up an amendment shortly before 8:30 p.m. that would defund combat operations in Afghanistan, saving $33 billion.

Rep. Garamendi followed with an amendment that would cut spending on Afghanistan in a way that would force a steady and fast withdrawal from Afghanistan. Republicans also said they oppose this language, which amounted to a $22 billion cut. Votes on his amendment and Lee's amendment are expected Thursday.

Later in the evening, Rep. Lee introduced another amendment that sought to end a $5 billion fund that DOD can use in the global war against terrorism. Rep. Cohen introduced an amendment cutting $200 million from an Afghanistan infrastructure fund, and Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) introduced language that would eliminate the entire $475 million in that fund.

Following that, Cohen proposed eliminating $4 billion from the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, leaving $8.8 billion. Votes on each of these amendments are expected Thursday.

Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Mich.) proposed cutting $236 million from the Afghanistan infrastructure fund to help fund U.S. infrastructure projects, but Republicans successfully raised a point of order against that amendment.